Spotted towhee facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Spotted towhee |
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Pipilo
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maculatus
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The spotted towhee (Pipilo maculatus) is a type of large New World sparrow. For many years, scientists debated how to classify these birds. Until 1995, the spotted towhee and the eastern towhee were thought to be the same bird, called the rufous-sided towhee. So, if you read old books from before 1995, they might call the spotted towhee a rufous-sided towhee that lives in the western United States. An older name for the spotted towhee was the Oregon towhee (Pipilo maculatus oregonus). Its call can sound a bit rougher and more varied than the eastern towhee's call.
There's a special kind of spotted towhee that lives on Socorro Island. It's much smaller than other spotted towhees and has gray feathers on its upper body. Some scientists think this bird is a separate species called the Socorro towhee (Pipilo socorroensis).
Contents
What Does a Spotted Towhee Look Like?
The spotted towhee is a large New World sparrow. It's about the same size as an American robin. This bird has a long, dark tail that spreads out like a fan, with white spots on the corners. They have a round body, like other New World sparrows, with bright red eyes and dull pink legs.
Spotted towhees are usually between 17 and 21 centimeters (6.7 to 8.3 inches) long. They weigh between 33 and 49 grams (1.2 to 1.7 ounces). Their wingspan is about 28 centimeters (11 inches).
Adult male towhees have a dark head, upper body, and tail. They have a white belly and reddish-brown (rufous) sides. You can see white spots on their back and white bars on their wings. Female towhees look similar, but their dark parts are more dark brown and gray instead of black. The spotted towhee has white spots on its main wing feathers, which is how you can tell it apart from the eastern towhee, even though they are the same size and shape.
Where Do Spotted Towhees Live?
Spotted towhees live in dry upland forests and breed across the northwestern part of North America. You can find them all year in places like California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and southern British Columbia. They don't live in very dry places like the Sonoran Desert. However, they do live in northern Arizona and almost all of California, except for the very dry southeastern corner. Sometimes, they even spread as far east as western Iowa and southwestern Minnesota.
These birds also live in wetland forests and riparian forests that are close to upland forests. Because spotted towhees live in areas of the United States that often have forest fires, like Arizona, New Mexico, and California, they tend to stay in areas with unburned chaparral (a type of shrubland). They avoid burned areas because there isn't enough ground cover or food. Spotted towhees might return to an area after a fire if it's recovering (less than 15 years old). This is because the new plants provide good ground cover and make it easy to find food. However, their numbers will drop right after a fire until the plants grow back.
In the southwest, their breeding habitat depends a lot on Coastal sage scrub. This plant provides good hiding spots from predators. In the winter, they travel to the northern and northwestern United States and southwestern Canada to breed in scrubland, parks, and even suburban gardens. Along the coast, they are very common in the Coastal Douglas-fir forests found in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and British Columbia. Birds from the northwest migrate eastward to the central plains of the United States, mostly the northwestern-central Great Plains. In other areas, some birds might move to lower elevations during the winter. Their breeding habitat is chaparral, thickets, or bushy areas across western North America. This bird can also breed with the collared towhee where their living areas overlap in southwestern Mexico.
Spotted Towhee Behavior
Reproduction and Nesting
Spotted towhees build their nests either on the ground or low in bushes, usually no more than 1.5 meters (5 feet) above the ground. Most nests are about 40 centimeters (1.3 feet) off the ground. They usually choose open areas for their nests but hide the nest as they build it. The female builds the nest, which takes about five days.
The nest is big and strong, made from leaves, strips of bark, small branches, plant stalks, and grasses. It's lined with pine needles, shredded bark, soft grass, and sometimes animal hair. The nest is usually 11.5 centimeters (4.5 inches) wide, with an inner circle of 6.5 to 10 centimeters (2.5 to 4 inches). The nests are built so the top edge is at ground level, and the nest itself is about 6.5 centimeters (2.5 inches) deep.
A female towhee lays at least two sets of broods each season, with three to five eggs in each set. The egg shells are grayish or creamy-white, sometimes with a hint of green. They have reddish-brown spots that can form a circle or cap. The eggs are a bit oval-shaped, measuring 2 to 2.6 centimeters (0.8 to 1 inch) long and 1.7 to 1.9 centimeters (0.7 to 0.75 inches) wide. The female sits on the eggs alone for 12 to 14 days. The young birds leave the nest when they are 10 to 12 days old. Sometimes, other birds like cowbirds will lay their eggs in a towhee's nest, which is called parasitism.
What Do Spotted Towhees Eat?
These birds look for food on the ground or in low plants. They make a lot of noise as they rummage through dry leaves to find their meals. During the breeding season (spring and summer), they mostly eat insects, ground beetles, spiders, and other small creatures that live in the leaf litter. They eat a lot of protein-rich food during this time. In the fall and winter, they change their diet to focus on acorns, seeds, oats, and berries. If there are bird feeders in their forest home, they will often visit them.
Who Are Their Predators?
In wild areas, the main predators of spotted towhees are ground dwelling snakes. This is because the towhees build their nests on the ground. The more snakes there are around a nest, the less likely it is that the young chicks will grow up and leave the nest. In areas near towns and cities, their main predators are household cats.
Images for kids
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Spotted Towhee at Vasona Park
See also
In Spanish: Rascador moteado para niños
